China wealth fund may put $1.2 billion into Apax fund: report

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- China's sovereign-wealth fund China Investment Corp. is offering to invest as much as 800 million euros ($1.2 billion) in a private-equity fund run by London-based Apax Partners LLP, a news report said Thursday.

As part of the investment, CIC will buy a 2.3% stake in the private-equity group's management company, Apax Partners Worldwide LLP, which is one of the largest of its kind in Europe, the Financial Times reported, without citing sources.

The move shows China is still eager to invest abroad, even though it has been stymied in its attempts to do so in the past, the report said.

The deal is seen as unusual in that some of the funds currently held by Apex could be transferred to CIC, the report said.

Two years ago, Apex raised 11.2 billion euros for its Apex Europe VII fund, one of the largest buyout funds in Europe, and has already invested about half of this, the Financial Times reported.

Apax is now offering investors the opportunity to transfer up to 800 million euros of yet-to-be-invested funds, otherwise known as unfunded commitments, to CIC, according to a letter sent to investors in Apax Europe VII, it said.

Apax counts the Washington State Investment Board and California State Teachers' Retirement System among its large U.S. institutional investors.

Apax reportedly has made the CIC deal conditional on attracting at least 350 million euros in commitments.

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